Twenty students in Newport will have the opportunity to earn a welding and fabrication certificate, without leaving town, beginning in January. The one-year certificate is being offered at the Spokane Community Newport Center, and thanks to a $49,152 United States Department of Agriculture Rural Business Development Grant, there will be additional student support.
Students will graduate from the program in December 2018, and all classes will be taught in the evening to make them accessible to people who work or have family obligations during the day. The USDA grant funding will help students with costs for childcare, gas, program tools and safety equipment and other needs outside of tuition. It will also pay for a special assistant called a navigator who will help students complete the program and find employment.
SCC is partnering with Newport High School to use the welding and fabrication lab at the school in the evenings. Travis Stott, the welding and fabrication instructor at Newport High School, will join the SCC team to teach courses.
This is likely to be very popular and interested people should contact the SCC Newport Center at 509-447-3835 immediately to apply for the winter quarter and begin required financial aid paperwork.
“Pend Oreille County was selected for this project because interest and need is strong from the local businesses, community members and local government,” said Jaclyn Jacot, interim dean of extended learning division at SCC. “It has also been many years since SCC has been able to offer training for a hands-on technical trade in Pend Oreille County, and the time seems right.”
SCC is one of the largest community colleges in the state and serves more than 20,000 students every year. SCC has provided college transfer, career-technical and adult basic educational opportunities to hundreds of thousands of students in Eastern Washington since 1963. The main campus is located in Spokane, but there are centers in Colville, Newport, Republic, Ione and Inchelium.